He is the economist credited with having the most influence on the Archbishop of Canterbury. And Paul Dembinski is clear that regulation is not enough to improve banking - a fundamental cultural shift is needed

There is no trickier problem facing the Home Secretary, Theresa May, than Calais. The French port nearest to England has seen daily and nightly battles between would-be illegal immigrants laying siege to the entrance to the Channel Tunnel and the French authorities, including riot police, trying to protect it.

Can Pope Francis hold the Catholic Church together on the issue of homosexuality? A group of leading African bishops has already begun to organise itself to fight changes to the traditional Catholic stance, which regards the homosexual condition as “disordered” and homosexual acts as gravely sinful.

In their desperation to reach Britain, the 5,000 or so migrants stranded in Calais daily risk death or injury trying to board lorries and trains. Their plight is exacerbated by appalling living conditions, but their faith – Christian and Muslim – remains strong

There’s a huge disparity between the number of clergy in the Church of England and the Catholic Church even though the number of worshippers is similar. So why are the Anglicans ordaining so many priests and bishops?

The once toxic relationship between Christians and Jews has benefited from 50 years of dialogue since the groundbreaking Second Vatican Council document, Nostra Aetate. Last month, scholars from both faiths met to explore the progress of the covenant the two religions have forged

One could imagine the hurried exchanges between No. 10 officials and political advisers over the weekend of 18-19 July as they put the latest tracked changes into the Prime Minister’s speech on extremism, which he delivered at a Birmingham school that Monday.

With this prosaic title, you might be forgiven for expecting a predictable narrative accompanied by pictures of dour, bearded reformers being executed in various unpleasant ways. In fact it contains seven essays by leading Reformation historians, with an array of fascinating pictures that are not just illustrations but integral parts of the argument.

After 20-odd years in London, George Frideric Handel had got fed up with sweating out Italian operas for an increasingly ungrateful public, but instead of quitting in fury he conjured up an entirely original musical form: the closest we ever came to true English opera.